{"id":1320405,"date":"2020-06-08T18:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T00:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=997057"},"modified":"2020-06-08T18:30:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T00:30:30","slug":"lost-season-reveals-strength-in-coal-ridge-standout-marin-simons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/lost-season-reveals-strength-in-coal-ridge-standout-marin-simons\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost season reveals strength in Coal Ridge standout Marin Simons"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"764\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-1.jpg-1024x764.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-1.jpg-1024x764.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-1.jpg-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-1.jpg-768x573.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-1.jpg-1536x1146.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-1.jpg-2048x1529.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Coal Ridge\u2019s Marin Simons didn\u2019t let shoulder surgery and COVID-19 stop her from working on her track events including high jump.<\/strong><br \/><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Coal Ridge track coach Ben Kirk hadn\u2019t seen anything like soon-to-be-senior, Marin Simons.<\/p>\n<p>She came to him, fresh off a freshman year in which she set the high school\u2019s high jump record at 5\u20191\u201d, with a request: Let me bring the high jump pit to my house in the offseason.<\/p>\n<p>The result was a 5\u20193\u201d jump, just recently, during what would\u2019ve been her junior season and a continuance of a seldom-seen work ethic.<\/p>\n<p>Simons maintains her goal of competing in college, hopefully for the University of Utah if things break the right way. To get there, she hopes to jump \u201cat least 5\u20196\u201d\u201d in her senior campaign next school year to take home a state title.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Banks had spent days watching Simons off to the side of football or cross country practice, by herself, jumping over and over again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a conversation and I said, \u2018Well, if you\u2019re not doing (any other sports), you better be training every single day,\u2019\u201d Banks said. \u201cAnd most high school athletes go, \u2018Oh yeah, of course I will.\u2019 After a couple of weeks, that stops. Every single day after school, she would go out and high jump until the weather got so bad that they took the pits to their house and she did the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer dedication to it was incredible. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen it before \u2013 Every single day for like two hours, she\u2019d go out and she\u2019d run. And she would work out that she jumped by herself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simons wasn\u2019t a track fiend entering high school. She\u2019d dabbled in several other sports with moderate success, even in her first year of high school. Once the record was set, and her events ended on the podium, she attached to track and field.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like maybe she had struggled a little bit to fit in (to a sport),\u201d Simons\u2019 mom Ashlee said. \u201cShe had tried different sports and hadn\u2019t really succeeded. Then she goes to do track and it was that day in Hotchkiss (and it was) just awesome that she had found something that she could feel the thrill of being first.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just gave her new life. She became really dedicated to track. And she became really excited and it really changed who she was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Hotchkiss Invitational was when things changed for Marin. Her second-place finish changed her mindset from having fun to truly working and competing for a state title and a college scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>She finished 6th at the CHSAA 3A State Championships her freshman year. Last year, she finished in a four-way tie for 3rd.<\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-2-755x1024.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-997059\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-2-755x1024.jpg 755w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-2-221x300.jpg 221w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-2-768x1041.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-2-1133x1536.jpg 1133w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-2-1511x2048.jpg 1511w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/MarionSimons-2.jpg 1750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Coal Ridge\u2019s Marin Simons didn\u2019t let shoulder surgery and COVID-19 stop her from working on her track events including high jump.<\/strong><br \/><em>Marin Simons<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Through competition and training, Marin sustained a shoulder injury that required surgery. The rehab and lack of training available cost her a chance at further improvement before her sophomore year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not so much the shoulder that kind of affected me,\u201d Marin said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re not working out for eight weeks, you lose muscle. So I had to go and rebuild all the muscles everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A canceled season due to COVID-19 didn\u2019t stop Marin either. Instead of finishing her junior season, she\u2019s gone through track events by herself. Her mom records them and keeps track of her progress.<\/p>\n<p>For her, watching Marin keep such a work ethic in a sport with such gradual success has been eye-opening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFailure is just a part of life, right?\u201d Ashlee said. \u201cThat is one thing in high jump, it\u2019s really difficult because no matter who you are, you knock the bar off at some point. At some point, you can\u2019t jump any higher and you have to turn around and walk away and begin again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that that is a crazy metaphor for life \u2013&nbsp;sometimes you fail multiple times before you achieve something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For now, she\u2019s merely showing teammates and classmates exactly how to avoid cheating the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s something that, as a program, you will always reflect back on and our kids will remember her,\u201d Banks said. \u201cShe\u2019ll have a record for a long time \u2013 hopefully we\u2019ll get her picture up in the school as a state champion. I think those kinds of examples are huge and the other kids on the team notice it too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:lzahlmann@postindependent.com\">lzahlmann@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/lost-season-reveals-strength-in-coal-ridge-standout-marin-simons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coal Ridge\u2019s Marin Simons didn\u2019t let shoulder surgery and COVID-19 stop her from working on her track events including high jump. Coal Ridge track coach Ben Kirk hadn\u2019t seen anything like soon-to-be-senior, Marin Simons. She came to him, fresh off a freshman year in which she set the high school\u2019s high jump record at 5\u20191\u201d, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1320405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-03 19:20:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}